


Aftermath

by IrreverentFangirl



Series: The Long Path [1]
Category: Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant as of s02e07, Coda, Exposition, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Post ‘Bruce Wayne’ 2x07, i havent written this much in months, this will probably be jossed by the next episode oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-23 18:02:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21085523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrreverentFangirl/pseuds/IrreverentFangirl
Summary: The team needs to talk.





	1. Dick’s Secret

**Author's Note:**

> idk guys i watched this episode as it came out and i was fucking inspired so here we are. this is barely edited so if you notice something off, feel free to say something

Dick stood in front of the Titans, his arms crossed over his chest. His expression was carefully blank but there was a certain fierceness in his stance. Jason was standing to his left and slightly behind him, his eyes fixed to the ground, determined to avoid eye contact with everyone in the room. “Okay, guys,” Dick said. “We need to talk.” 

He looked around the room. He noted how Dawn was pressed against Hank, how Kory was flanked by Donna and Raven, how Gar stood near them but far enough away that he wouldn’t immediately be included as part of that group, how Rose stood by herself armed with a nasty scowl, a narrowed eye, and her fists pressed tight against her hips. Dick sighed, the anger in his stance faded. He look tired. “I should start this with an apology,” he said. 

“I didn’t give you all the information you needed. I lied to you all to protect myself and that was wrong—I knew better. I knew keeping secrets would just hurt us. So I’m sorry for that—so fucking sorry. I can’t make up for it, but I can tell you guys the truth. I can tell you what really happened that caused all this. I...can explain how it’s my fault.” 

Donna flinched and Dawn glanced away. Hank raised an arm to wrap around Dawn’s shoulder but she shied away from him; he dropped his arm, a hastily hidden hurt in the tilt of his lips. 

“Slade Wilson, known also as Deathstroke the Terminator, is the world’s most feared mercenary. He has never failed to get a mark. Until yesterday,” Dick’s eyes flicked to Kory, who’s eyebrows were furrowed, “when Kory here swooped in to save the day and then our newcomer saved Jason minutes later. Jason is officially the first—and only—time Slade Wilson has failed.” 

Dawn chose this moment to interject. “About six years ago, Deathstroke was hired to take out one of our own. He succeeded and Aqualad was killed.” Donna flinched and turned her face away so the raw pain in her expression couldn’t be seen. “We were all...destroyed by it. We loved Garth and his death, it fucked us all up. Dick especially.” 

Dick nodded, his fists clenching. “I...I swore revenge. I sought out Deathstroke’s son to try and get intel from him. If he truly didn’t know his father, I was going to leave him alone.” Dick closed his eyes. Rose’s eye got wide and she bared her teeth in silent fury. 

“What did you do, Grayson?” Kory asked. There was no judgement on her face but her jaw was tense. 

“Neither happened. Joey, Deathstroke’s son, was...so much more than I expected. He became one of the best friends I ever had...he became a hero. I never told him why I sought out his friendship, but I stopped faking. Joey became a Titan, he became one of us.” None of the original Titans would make eye contact with each other, or with the new members of the team. “We fought Deathstroke and...he killed Joey. Joey’s death is what led to the original Titans team dissolving, we couldn’t handle another death after Garth.” 

Dick took a deep breath, doing his best to hold back the tears that had been threatening to appear all day. “It’s my fault Deathstroke’s son is dead. He blames me and he should. If I had warned Joey about what I was bringing him into—if I hadn’t sought him out in the first place—“ 

“Will you please shut the fuck up?” Rose snapped. “You didn’t fucking kill my brother. That was all daddy dearest. It is nice to know that I was right about you all manipulating me though—“ 

“No!” Dick snapped. “I swear that I had no idea you were his daughter. I didn’t know you were Joey’s sister when I took you in. I just knew that you needed help. You don’t have to trust me—I sure fucking wouldn’t if I was in your place—but I have to say it. I was not manipulating you, Rose. I had no ulterior motives in bringing you in, or keeping you here. And I was not planning to hand you over to your father. At any point.” 

“No, you were planning to hand yourself over. Like a self-sacrificing dumbass,” Donna snapped. 

Dick didn’t argue. He stared at Donna for a moment with a drawn expression before nodding. “Yeah. That’s exactly what I was planning and you’re right, it was dumb. Which is why I’m finally telling all of you everything. We need to make a plan and this time I won’t fuck with it. At all.” 

Dick’s worn expression transformed into something fierce. “We’re going to stop Deathstroke. For fucking real this time. And when that’s dealt with, we’re going to talk about what the fuck just went down with Jason.” 

Donna ducked her head, Dawn nodded with a resigned expression, Rachel glanced at Jason before turning her head away, and Hank glared at Dick—but didn’t argue. 

Dick nodded before turning his attention to Gar and Kory. “Gar, Kory, you two are going to be the focus of this attack because Deathstroke doesn’t seem to know what to do with either of you. Jason, Rose, and I are going to be bait while you two will be in the shadows waiting for him.” 

Rose laughed, a sharp and nasty sound. “As long as I get to beat the shit out of Slade, I don’t care how we do this.” 

“Same. He needs to be stopped,” Jason said, his voice quieter than normal. Rose sent him a look that was almost shockingly soft before turning away, a sneer curling her lips. 

“We got this,” Gar said. “We’re going to win. We have to.” 

Dick nodded sharply, once. “He’s right. We’ve got this. We’re going to work together and we’re going to take Deathstroke down.” 


	2. Apologies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is proofread but not beta’d. idk guys this episode just fucked me up. there will be a part two to this series and it will be unabashedly canon divergent because i’m a giant comics fan and also a dick stan and it’s what i deserve

It was the next day and, surprisingly enough, they had won. Deathstroke was in prison—and while none of them were foolish enough to think that he wasn’t able to escape, they were pretty sure he would leave them be after how soundly they had defeated him and especially after Rose’s parting words. 

_ “If you bother us again,  _ ** _Slade, _ ** _ I’ll finish what Addie started.”  _

They were gathered back in the Tower’s communal area, sitting on the couches this time. Dick, Jason, and Rose were on one couch, with Jason in the middle. On the opposite couch was Kory, Rachel, Gar, and Conner; Kory and Gar were sitting in the middle with Rachel on one side of Kory and Conner on the other side of Gar, while Krypto sat at Conner’s feet, his head resting on Conner’s knee. Donna, Dawn, and Hank sat on the third couch with Donna and Hank on either side of Dawn. 

“We defeated Deathstroke,” Dick said. “And I said yesterday that once we’d done that, we’d discuss what went down yesterday with Jason.” 

Rose side-eyed Jason. “I’m not getting involved in this one. Jay and I talked last night—we’re good.” Jason nodded, sending her a crooked smile. It lacked his normal cockiness. 

Dick nodded. “Okay. What about the rest of you guys? Because here’s what I saw yesterday—I walked into the Tower to find all of you surrounding him before he ran off. And then I had to talk him down from the fucking ledge. So do you guys have anything to say?” 

Rachel flushed before saying, “It’s my fault. I assumed...I assumed the worst. Everyone else just…followed in my footsteps.” She turned her attention to Jason. “I’m sorry for being such a bitch to you. I shouldn’t have acted like that.” 

Jason didn’t react to her apology for a long, silent moment, instead opting to just stare at her. “Why did you assume it was me?” he asked. 

Rachel bit her lower lip and wrapped her arms around her torso. “I couldn’t think of anyone else in the house who knew who I was...and who hated me enough to do something like that.” 

Jason jerked back. “I don’t hate you!” 

“You called me a fucking freak, Jason!” Rachel yelled. “Of course you hate me!” 

Jason grimaced. “That wasn’t cool of me. I wasn’t fucking thinking when I said that, I was too freaked out by the weird shit that had just happened. I don’t fucking hate you, dude. And I’m not that big of an asshole.” 

Rachel stared down at her lap. “Yeah...I got that. I really am sorry for starting yesterday’s shit.” 

“And I’m sorry for assuming the worst of you,” Dawn cut in. “You hadn’t left your room all day and you’ve never struck me as malicious. Plus you didn’t know anything about Ellis, it made no sense to assume what was going on yesterday had anything to do with you.” 

Hank nodded, a miserable expression on his face. “I’m sorry too, kid. You don’t know me well enough to know the shit I’ve dealt with. Fuck, Dawn’s the only person here who knew about that shit. I wasn’t fucking thinking.” 

“It sounds like none of you were thinking yesterday,” Kory said with an arched eyebrow. 

Donna huffed out a laugh that lacked amusement. “We weren’t. Me included. I don’t know you, Jason, and you don’t know me. Before yesterday, you didn’t even know who Garth was. There was no way you could have known about the soda. I just jumped on the first available scapegoat.” 

“You all did,” Dick said. “The fact that one of you attacked a teammate without any concrete proof and you all decided to join in, that’s fucked up. That’s not something that can be allowed to happen. Also, ganging up on a kid who had just been kidnapped and tortured is just low.” 

“I’m not a fucking kid,  _ Dick _ !” Jason interjected with a sneer. 

Dick scoffed. “Compared to Dawn, Hank, and Donna, you are.” 

Donna lowered her gaze to her hands, which she had clasped in her lap. “He’s right. Us three are adults and we should have acted like it. Instead we were giant assholes. I’m sorry, Jason.” 

Jason instinctively glanced over at Dick, who was staring at him with a concerned expression. Dick nodded for him to go ahead and say what he was thinking. “I’m not ready to forgive any of you. Yesterday was shit, I didn’t...I didn’t deserve it.” 

Dick clapped a hand onto Jason’s shoulder. “No, you didn’t,” he said, his tone firm, before moving his hand away. 

Dawn nodded before saying, “That’s understandable, we don’t deserve your forgiveness. And I plan to make up for my part in what went down.” 

Rachel blinked away the tears that had welled up in her eyes. “Me too. I’m so sorry, Jason. I’ll make it better. I  _ will _ .” 

Donna didn’t say anything, she just stared at Jason with somber eyes and a tense jaw for a second before nodding and returning her attention to her hands. 

“I don’t know what I can fucking do to make up for being a giant tool, but I’ll try to figure it out,” Hank said. “And I’ll do my best not to let it happen again.” 

Jason nodded, the movement jerky. “Okay,” he said, not offering up anything else. 

Gar, Conner, and Rose had been watching the conversation with varying expressions. Gar had looked pained, Conner confused, and Rose angry. “We’re not a very good team, are we?” Gar asked, his lips screwed up. 

Rose laughed. “You guys aren’t a team at all, you’re a fucking mess.” 

“Rose is right,” Kory said. “We  _ are _ a mess. And we need to work on it. No more secrets,” she shot Dick a look, “no more ganging up on each other,” her attention turned to Rachel, Hank, Dawn, and Donna, “and no more sneaking out without talking to the rest of us first.” The last part had been directed to Dick, Gar, and Jason. 

Nobody argued with her. She turned her attention to Conner. “Sorry your first interaction with us was at our worst.” 

“Actually, my first interaction with any of you was when I caught Jason!” Conner corrected, a sweet smile on his face. “And it’s fine, I guess. It looks like I got involved with you all at a...bad time.” 

Dick snorted. “You could definitely say that.” 

Conner shrugged and scratched at Krypto’s ear. “I’m just happy I was able to save Jason,” he said. 

Jason’s answering grin was weak but true. “Thanks again, man. I’ll never be able to say that enough.” 

Conner beamed back at him. “I don’t need you to thank me!” he insisted. 

Dick laughed. “Wow, you really are just like Uncle Superman.” 

There was a moment of silence in the room as everyone stared at Dick. Gar eagerly broke the silence with the words, “Dude, did you just say ‘Uncle Superman’?” 

Dick frowned. “No.” 

“You totally just said ‘Uncle Superman’!” Gar exclaimed. “What the hell?” 

Jason stared at Gar with furrowed eyebrows. “Bro, didn’t you know Superman and Batman were friends?” 

“I didn’t know Batman  _ had _ friends!” Gar exclaimed. “I thought they hated each other!” 

“Nah, man, they’re definitely friends. Dick must have grown up with him.” 

Dick scowled. “Can this conversation please end?” he asked. 

“Can you introduce me to Superman?!” Conner asked as he leaned forward, a delighted expression on his face. 

Dick’s scowl flattened out into a considering expression. “...Maybe.” 

“Why does Conner get a maybe and I always get a no?” Gar exclaimed. 

Dick snorted. “Because you aren’t literally Superman’s clone?” 

Gar huffed. “Okay, that’s fair, I guess,” he said. 

Dick ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, it looks like we’re done here for now. I’m giving everyone the day off today...we need it. No training. Go relax.” 

He stood up and everyone copied him, dispersing throughout the Tower. After everyone except him and Donna left, he said, “Hey, Donna, can we talk?” 

Donna looked at him with pursed lips. “...Of course. What do you need?” 

“Are you still in contact with Lilith?” 

**Author's Note:**

> please leave a comment and consider coming to yell at me abt titans on [my comics blog](http://thotmasblake.tumblr.com/)


End file.
